


How to Date

by TheUnamazingTrashKing



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gay Panic, M/M, No Homo, being gay, just a couple of dudes, just guys being dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-20 05:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9477605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnamazingTrashKing/pseuds/TheUnamazingTrashKing
Summary: Harry Potter is put on detention with Draco Malfoy and is pretty sick of fighting with him, so suggests the two meet up over summer. Awkwardness ensues.





	1. Date Like a Muggle

Harry Potter was on detention. With Severus Snape around this wasn’t exactly rare, however what was surprising was that Draco Malfoy was also there. It wasn’t Snape who put him on detention, in fact Harry wasn’t sure how Malfoy ended up there and didn’t really bother to ask.  


It was fourth year, the tri-wizard tournament was well and truly over but there was still a week left of school and if Severus Snape wasn’t making up for lost time Potter didn’t know what was happening. Harry and Ron had been trying out another of Fred and George’s inventions (It was supposed to make a ‘pop’ sound when it hit the ground, but at the moment it sounded more like breaking glass which the two decidedly liked better) when Snape had walked past. Since Hermione had actively sat out of the action with her nose stuck in a book she was now undoubtedly sitting in the Gryffindor common room with yet another book. Ron and Harry were not so lucky and had been dealt a detention. Detention tonight meant cleaning for Professor McGonagall, who had decided that Harry and Draco needed to get better at working together. She sent the two into one room to clean and Ron to another.  


The two had agreed to work at different ends of the room, leaving Harry sweeping up the back and Draco wiping down the blackboard. Draco also didn’t seem to be slacking off, which was also surprising. Harry almost considered commenting on the fact, but so far the two had worked in perfect silence and he saw no reason to break that for a snide comment. Plus, he was growing tired. Not just physically, although that was true as well, but he was exhausted of fighting all the time. It wasn’t like he could stop fighting with Voldemort or the death eaters, but maybe there was someone he could finally stop fighting.  


“Hey, Malfoy,” Harry said.  


“What?” He didn’t sound exactly pleased that they were suddenly speaking.  


“What are you doing over the summer?”  


Draco looked over to Harry with a furrowed brow and repeated himself, “What?”  


“What are you doing over the summer?” Harry asked again with a small smile pulling up the corners of his mouth.  


“I don’t know,” He answered a little slowly. He seemed unsure where this conversation was going.  


“Maybe we should,” Harry paused and shifted a little, “I don’t know, meet up or something.”  


“Why?” Draco asked. He looked Harry over as if searching for a sign of his madness. He also made a few glances at the door as if ready to escape if Harry went rabid.  


Harry looked suddenly defeated, “I don’t maybe we could talk and get to know each other a little so we stop fighting all the time.” Draco’s eyebrows shot up so fast Harry thought they would fly off his face.  


He looked at the black board as if the answer would be written there, then the door and finally back to Harry. He finally nodded, “Alright.”  


“Alright,” Harry repeated. “I’ll,” he shrugged, “Send you an owl.”  


Draco nodded, “Yeah, okay.” They turned back to their work and only then did Harry realise how warm his face felt. Had he been blushing? If he was, did Draco notice? Both good questions, with no real definitive way to get the answer. It wasn’t like he was going to ask Draco.  


Summer rolled around, school finished and Harry was in his room at the Dursley’s house staring at a blank piece of parchment. It was eight o’clock and he had been staring at the parchment for at least five minutes. He didn’t know where to start. Probably with who it was for. Probably. He still wasn’t writing anything. He put aside the quill, inkwell and parchment and replaced them with normal paper and a bic pen.  


_Dear Draco Malfoy_  


He wasn’t if he wanted to call Draco ‘dear’ and promptly crossed it out.  


_To Draco Malfoy_  
If he’s already opened the envelope he knows who it’s for.  


_Draco Malfoy_  


That sounded weird. He crossed out the ‘Draco.’  


Perfect.  


_~~Draco~~ Malfoy_  


_How are you? Remember how we said we’d meet up? ~~Can we~~ We should do that. ~~Let’s get together.~~ Do you want to meet up at The Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at twelve? We can meet there and then go see a movie or something. _  
_Wear something casual._  
_Harry_  


Harry read the note over a few times to himself before finally nodding. That would do. Probably. He copied the note onto the parchment, folded it up, stuck it in an envelope and gave it to Hedwig. He let her out as quietly as possible so that the Dursley’s wouldn’t hear. As soon as Hedwig was out of call back distance Harry felt dread land heavily on his shoulders. He started rereading the draft he had written. Then he started stressing that Draco would read it with hostility, or maybe he had written out one of the crossed out lines. Exactly two minutes had passed since he sent the letter and Harry was already freaking himself out.  


He decidedly sat on his bed and stared at the wall, refusing to look at the draft or think about what he had written. He finally decided that Draco wouldn’t reply. Draco would read it, throw it out and go to bed. He kept repeating this in his head. It had now been twenty minutes since he had sent the message.  


Ten minutes later he was concerned again. Why had he put tomorrow? What if Draco doesn’t even get it until tomorrow and shows up the day after? Hedwig settled this issue by returning as the thoughts were swirling through his head. She didn’t have a reply. Harry sighed with an odd mix of relief and dismay. He realised he was rather excited at the prospect of meeting up with Draco.  


Another ten minutes. What if Draco’s lack of reply was a yes? Should he go just in case? He heard the laugh of Dudley and remembered he had already told the Dursley’s he was going out (they had seemed a little too excited to get him out of the house) so he might as well. Even if Draco didn’t show up. He wasn’t averse to going around by himself, especially in the wizard world.  


Ten minutes later and he finally felt calm. Then an eagle owl swooped into his room and dropped a letter on his desk. It perched briefly on the windowsill and blinked its big eyes at Hedwig who was sitting beside it. Technically she should have been in her cage but Harry couldn’t bring himself to put her in there and the Dursley’s hadn’t noticed. He picked up the envelope and the bird flew away. There was neat handwriting on the envelope reading ‘Potter.’ Draco’s letter read as:  


_Potter_  


_I’m fine, thank you. I do recall our conversation; I’ll meet you there._  


_I don’t know what a movie is._  


_Draco_  


Harry felt a smile grow on his face when he finished the letter. Of course he didn’t know what a movie was. There weren't any wizard cinemas. There weren’t even wizard T.Vs. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to put the letter safely back in the envelope and put it in his desk drawer, but he did.  


So he and Draco were going out. What should he wear? _Normal clothes_ , a voice in his head muttered. It almost sounded like what Harry imagined Ron would sound like if Ginny were fussing about what to wear on a date. Although that analogy didn’t really work since this wasn’t a date.  


Harry picked out his clothes, but didn’t take them out of the wardrobe. He didn’t want Dudley coming in and seeing his clothes out, already knowing he was going out and start teasing him about going on a date. The Dursley’s would never let him out of the house if they thought he got a girlfriend before their ‘precious Dudley.’  


The next day, Harry was in the Leaky Cauldron at twelve O’clock where he promptly noticed the bright blonde hair of Draco Malfoy. Even though Harry had said to wear something casual (something he also beat himself up about last night) he was still wearing slacks and a button up shirt. Not to mention a silvery tie. At least he wasn’t wearing robes. Although compared to Harry’s shirt and jeans he looked dressed up. Still, it was extremely casual for his usual look. It also looked extremely good on him; a thought Harry pushed to the back of his mind as he approached to greet him.  


“Hey,” Harry said.  


“Hey,” Draco replied. They both seemed to freeze. What do you say to someone who you’ve only spoken to with tormenting and arguing? Neither of them were sure.  


“It’s been kind of hot hasn’t it?” This was London, of course it hadn’t.  


“Yeah, I guess,” Draco replied. They both fell silent again. Other people in the building were watching them closely.  


“Let’s go,” Harry suggested, “We’ve got a movie to catch.”  


Draco nodded and followed him out of the store and into the muggle world. Here the conversation seemed to kick off a little easier. There was no longer a large group of people watching them with obvious interest.  


“So what is a movie?” Draco asked.  


“Uh,” Harry suddenly wasn’t sure how to describe a movie, “It’s like a book, but you actually see it.”  


Draco seemed a little confused, “So, theatre?”  


“Yes, but no.” Harry replied.  


They struck up a conversation about books, about how Harry read so few and how Draco had read mountains compared to him. Despite this he hadn’t read anywhere near as many as Hermione. Harry was pretty sure if anyone ever asked Hermione if she’d read something she’d be able to say yes without even hearing the name of the book and would probably be right ninety percent of the time.  


When they were approaching the cinema Harry realised that Draco wouldn’t have muggle money. Of course he wouldn’t. Why didn’t he think of that? He’d have to pay for them both. It wasn’t that he minded it was just that he felt a little thick for forgetting that Draco wouldn’t be able to pay.  


He paid Draco’s way, bought them both drinks and a large popcorn to share and lead him into the screening room. The trailers hadn’t started yet, which was probably for the best since Draco seemed to have a lot of questions. They sat down and Draco looked around and then back at Harry.  


“So the movie shows up on that?” He asked, pointing toward the screen.  


Harry nodded, “And when it does you can’t talk.”  


“Why not?”  


“Because talking during a movie will send you straight to the lowest circle of hell.” Harry replied with a laugh.  


Draco seemed a little shocked by that by still smiled at the joke. Next he pointed to the cup holders, “And what are those for?” Harry took Draco’s cup from his hand and placed it in the cup holder. “And do they have those for the popcorn?” He asked.  


Harry laughed softly, “No, they haven’t gotten that far just yet.”  


“Wouldn’t they just cut a hole in the arm of the chair?”  


“You’d think so,” Harry replied, “But I guess they’re too small to fit the box in them.” He placed the popcorn over the arm of the chair. It covered it completely and hung over the sides. Harry was suddenly aware of just how close he and Draco were actually sitting. Their shoulder’s just touched and their legs were inches from each other. Harry looked up to Draco’s face just as the lights dimmed and the trailers started. Harry sat back in his seat and put the popcorn back in his lap, hoping that the lights had faded fast enough that Draco wouldn’t see how hot his face felt.  


As the first couple of trailers finished Draco leaned over to Harry to whisper, “So a movie is a really short story.” The warm breath on his ear stopped Harry’s brain from working for a second before he realised the confusion. He had been taking a sip of his drink and nearly spat it out with laughter.  


“No, these are the trailers, the movie plays after these.” He replied still laughing a little. Draco sat back in his own seat.  


“So how do you know when the trailers are over?” He asked. His voice was still low, He probably guessed the best volume based on the few people still talking.  


“Well,” Harry replied still laughing just a little, “The lights will go off completely. Also there’s usually a bunch of logos and then the movie starts.”  


“Didn’t you buy the popcorn to eat while the movie played?” Draco asked.  


“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure where that question had come from.  


“It’s nearly half gone,” He replied. Harry looked down to see Draco was correct.  


“Shit,” Harry muttered. He was never very good at rationing his popcorn. Plus, he’d bought it for the two to share and as far as he had seen Draco hadn’t actually eaten any.  


Draco started laughing, clearly trying to restrain himself a little, even covering his mouth. Harry couldn’t help glancing over and laughing as well. There was something about the way that the light from the trailers bounced off his face in the darkness and their little bursts of uncontrollable laughter in a mostly quiet room that felt oddly intimate. Harry shook it off. Luckily their giggling fit faded by the time the movie actually started.  


Throughout the movie Draco started actually eating the popcorn. Their hands occasionally brushed as they both reached in and Harry felt himself going bright read. He wasn’t sure why and any explanations his brain came up with were quickly rebutted. _It’s just warm in here_. Well not really. _Maybe it’s because it’s just an awkward thing to happen?_ But it never felt awkward, just different. _It’s because it’s Draco, making contact with Draco is just weird._ Yeah, it’s a little weird but it’s not blush whenever your hands touch weird. _His hands are really soft._ Dude, what? Harry was struggling to pay attention to the movie, although a glance over to Draco showed him leaning forward just slightly with intrigue. Their shoulders were still just barely touching, although with the passage of time Harry had slowly sunk down into the chair. His legs had also spread a little more than normal and gently brushed with Draco’s. He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Harry had noticed that just before their legs had started brushing up against each other, he had shifted and when that caused them to touch he didn’t shift back or move away. These thoughts made his lips twitch into a smile.  


When the movie was over Harry had sunk so low in his chair he was practically laying down. Draco was still sitting up like a normal human being and looked down on Harry with mild curiosity. He had clearly gotten more comfortable though, as his tie was sitting more loosely around his neck and the collar button was undone.  


“Are you comfortable like that?” He asked.  


“Yeah, actually,” Harry replied. He let out a grunt as he got up and stretched. He felt his shirt raise over his stomach just a little and wondered if Draco noticed too. When he looked over to him he was also stretching, but there was a bit of red dusting his cheeks. He also had his shirt tucked in and Harry found himself batting away the little spike of disappointment he felt.  


They left the cinema together and Harry was suddenly aware of the fact that he didn’t know what to do now. What would Draco want to do? He honestly had no idea. What might blow his mind? Something he wouldn’t expect to see done by muggles. That was the thought process that lead them to the nearest mall. Draco did seem a little taken aback by it to say the least.  


Inside was typical for a mall but Draco seemed amazed. The skylight allowed you to see the sky and flooded the room with white light. It was white tiled and all the walls were white, expect the few black, brown or other coloured spots where stores stood.  


“What is this building used for?” Draco asked.  


“Everything,” Harry replied with a grin. “Honestly I was surprised when I found out that wizards didn’t have malls. Like I thought wizard malls would be right at the top of the to do list. Especially since you can have small places that are larger on the inside.”  


Draco was looking into one of the many clothing stores, “So that’s muggle fashion?”  


Harry lead him in and the two sorted through the clothing racks. There wasn’t anything Harry found particularly interesting, but Draco looked torn between fascination and distress.  


“This is why muggles are ugly,” Draco commented to Harry over a rack.  


“I’m wearing muggle clothes,” He replied defensively. Draco looked him over but didn’t reply and the cringe on his face didn’t fade.  


They went through a few stores each getting further and further from Draco’s idea of taste. At one point Harry attempted to defend muggle clothes and Draco held up a shirt with four different ugly patterns on it which promptly silenced Harry. It wasn’t until Harry dragged him into a store that sold suits that he finally seemed at least a little satisfied with muggle attire.  


“It’s not great,” He commented staring at a baby blue suit, “But it’s better than the other stuff.”  


“You mean the stuff like jeans?”  


“Yeah,” He replied.  


“I’m wearing jeans, Malfoy,” Harry was at least a little annoyed.  


Draco looked over Harry’s pants with that same distasteful look, “Yeah I know.” He didn’t really seem concerned with Harry’s look of annoyance, “See, why don’t muggles just wear this stuff all the time.”  


“It’s meant for special occasions,” Harry replied with a shrug. Draco looked confused and slightly pained. Harry directed his attention outside the shop, hoping to spot something else to distract Malfoy with aside from clothes.  


Harry spotted an ice-cream stand. “What some ice-cream?”  


“Muggle ice-cream,” Draco stated staring a little distrustfully at Harry.  


“Yeah,” He said with a slight laugh.  


“What does it taste like?”  


“Like,” Harry let out a short huff as he realised he didn’t know how to describe ice-cream. He couldn’t describe movies or ice-cream. No wonder wizards were so confused about muggle stuff. “It just tastes like normal ice-cream.” Did Wizards have ice-cream? He wasn’t sure. It was usually too cold to even consider ice-cream. They had jelly beans, why wouldn’t they have ice-cream?  


Harry bought them both vanilla. He felt like Draco would need to be eased into these things. Maybe if he liked it they’d get more before he went home and he could level up to strawberry or chocolate. They sat around eating, quietly people watching. Draco seemed to be enjoying this, not just the ice-cream but being out with Harry. He felt himself smiling and immediately felt like he was going to start blushing again. He trained his eyes back onto the crowd of people but the smile was still there.  


“You were right,” Draco stated drawing Harry’s attention. He had just finished his ice-cream and Harry wasn’t far behind.  


“I know,” He replied. “What was I right about?”  


Draco grinned at that and looked back to the crowd, “It just tastes like normal ice-cream.”  


“Yeah, I don’t know what you were expecting.” Draco shrugged and laughed a little. It was a nice sound. Warm. He let himself join in with Draco’s laughter. It was nice to hear their voices mixing together like that. They both glanced at each other and there was something absurd about the scene that they both recognised that made them laugh again. The two of them laughing, not at each other but with each other was so strange to even consider.  


Draco looked at Harry again and his eyes flicked down to his lips then away to the crowd. Harry felt his heart thump a little harder, surely he’d imagined that. Would he be upset if he hadn’t imagined it though? _Probably not._ Draco turned back to him, said, “You’ve got ice-cream,” and gestured on top of his own lip. Harry mirrored the action with a napkin and went red. That’s why Draco had been looking at his lips. That made a lot more sense than whatever thoughts were going through his head.  


“Thanks,” Harry replied.  


“You missed a bit,” Draco replied, gesturing to his lip again. Harry mirrored the action again, but it didn’t seem to be coming off as Draco sat there laughing and trying to direct him with where to wipe. Finally, Draco took the napkin from Harry’s hand and wiped it off for him. The two locked eyes afterwards and Draco seemed to realise how intimate it had been and went as red as Harry felt.  


“So,” Harry asked, his voice a little higher than normal. Draco noticed and laughed. He cleared his throat and tried again, “So, what do you want to do now?”  


“I don’t know, what do muggles usually do now?” Harry watched a small group of girls walking past.  


“I guess they just talk,” Harry replied.  


“Right,” Draco replied. A silence once again fell between them.  


“How are you going in potions?” Harry asked, feeling unsure of what else to say.  


“Fine,” Draco replied. “You?”  


“Snape hates me, so I could be doing better.”  


“Right,” Draco repeated. “Why does he hate you?”  


“I dunno,” He shrugged, “Something, something, not paying attention, something, my dad, something.” The two glanced at each other and started laughing again.  


“So he hates you because you don’t pay attention and your response is to not pay attention?”  


“I mean; I do pay attention in class, usually. Maybe I just have a vacant looking face,” He replied waving a hand in front of his face. The two started laughing again. When the laughter faded out Harry felt a question on the tip of his tongue; why do you hate me? Why do we hate each other?  


The question must have been clear on his face because Draco stared at the ground and spoke in a hushed voice, “When we first met, I was trying to impress you.”  


Harry nearly choked on laughter. “Wow, that went well.”  


“Utterly splendid,” Draco replied with pure sarcasm dripping from his words. There was a little bit of humour, but it mostly sounded regretful. “In my defence it always worked for my father.”  


“Always is a strong word,” Harry replied. Draco snorted out a laugh at that.  


After a few seconds Draco let his eyes unglue from the floor and travel up to the crowd. “I guess I should probably apologise to Weasley about that.”  


“While you’re at it should probably apologise to Hermione.”  


Draco nodded, “Yes, probably. I did say some pretty awful things to her.”  


“Why did you always say stuff like that?” Harry asked. He hadn’t meant to say it, but it had slipped out before he could catch it.  


Draco sighed pretty heavily before replying, “I learnt it all off my father. Mum recently let me know not a lot of people actually like my father and that I should try to be a little less like him. Although my father says that mum’s being dramatic and that I shouldn’t listen to her. I don’t really know which of them to listen to.”  


“To be honest with you, your mother. Like, without a doubt, I’d say your mother,” Harry replied.  


“It’s a little easier said than done to just not listen to my father,” Draco replied. They weren’t looking at each other anymore. All humour was gone. They sat in that conversation without speaking and for once the silence wasn’t awkward, just quiet. Draco broke it with a return of a small smile, “Potter, can I ask you something that might seem odd?”  


“Sure,” Harry replied, feeling a suspicious of that sudden shift in mood.  


“You’ve paid for everything for me all day, right?”  


“Yeah?”  


“Doesn’t that basically make this a date?” Harry thought he was going to die in that exact moment. He felt so warm he thought he’d set on fire. Draco was laughing and Harry tried to join in but it sounded weird now. Of course it wasn’t a date. It wasn’t a date… Probably.  


“I mean, if you intend to pay me back I won’t argue,” He replied, his voice a little higher than normal.  


“Do you know how to convert normal money to muggle money?” Draco asked. Harry shook his head. “Me either.”  


“That doesn’t make it a date.” Harry finally said definitively.  


“Why, what do muggles usually do on a date?”  


Harry felt rather hot under the collar and was seriously hoping he wasn’t as red as he felt. He glanced over to Draco who’s eyes flicked up to meet his. _Flicked up from where?_ There was a heavy blush in his cheeks too, which made Harry feel a little better. It wasn’t just him. He quickly came to a decision and grabbed Draco’s hand ( _His hands are really soft_ ) and gently pulled him to follow him.  


“Where are we going?” Draco asked. Harry wondered if he knew that his fingers had curled around his hand or if it happened subconsciously.  


“The aquarium.” Harry replied.  


“Why?”  


“Because that’s what muggles do on dates,” He answered. He briefly glanced back at Draco, just long enough to see him grin. Had his face been bright red? It had seemed it, but maybe Harry was imagining it.  


The blue lit halls of the aquarium made Harry feel a little safer. Most importantly the blue light seemed to counteract just how red faced he was. He didn’t realise he had held Draco’s hand the whole way there until Draco let go to follow one of the fish. Harry followed behind watching Draco while he tried to sort out what was going on in his head.  


_Obviously this whole thing is a joke, Draco was joking about this being a date. This is just taking the joke a little further._ Except that neither of them were laughing. It wasn’t unfunny, it just wasn’t a joke. _Draco just wanted to know what it was like to go on a muggle date. It’s not a real date, just a game._ Sure, this seemed reasonable. Until Draco turned to look back at him with a grin on his face. He was suddenly so sure that it felt like a real date. _How would you know you’ve never been on a date?_ This voice sounded differently to his usual thoughts (the same one who had insisted _normal clothes_ was a fine answer) and he threw it into the back of his mind. He knew what a date was meant to feel like, it felt like this. Warm. Soft. It felt like Draco’s smile, Draco’s laugh. _Dude that’s gay._ Harry ignored this too. He wasn’t gay. He liked girls quite a lot. Cho was very pretty, and he just spent the whole year jealous of her boyfriend. Yes, he was definitely not gay.  
_You could be Bi you know._ That unknown voice again. He promptly ignored it.  


“Why do muggles take their dates to the aquarium?” Draco asked.  


“I dunno,” Harry replied. It was a lie; he previously hadn’t known but seeing Draco’s face was all the explanation he needed. Watching how fascinated he seemed at all the fish was stunning.  


“You know the Slytherin common room is under the lake, so it looks a bit like this, but instead of blue everything’s green.” Harry did know that, as a matter of fact. He’d been in there, although since he had only gotten in by the use of polyjuice potion and to find out if Draco was the heir of Slytherin, he thought it best not to mention it. “Sometimes the giant squid shows up in the windows. One time a mermaid showed up too.”  


“Seriously?” Harry asked, legitimately impressed.  


“Yeah, they’re a lot uglier than in the paintings.”  


“I know,” Harry replied, “I had one stick a trident up to my throat.”  


Draco smiled, “How did you manage to piss off a mermaid?”  


“It was during the tournament, I tried to take Hermione and Ron.”  


Draco started laughing, “I’d nearly forgotten, Mr Outstanding Moral Fibre.” Harry laughed along with him at that. “Sorry about those Potter Stinks badges by the way. I made a fair bit of money off it though.”  


“Glad I could help,” Harry replied.  


They carried on through the aquarium and at some point Draco had started taking Harry’s arm and dragging him to look at things. He didn’t mind, Draco seemed to be having plenty of fun. When they started reaching the end of the aquarium he slowed down as if only just realising there was only so much one building could hold. He supposed that being raised in the wizarding world would have made that difference to some degree.  


When they actually left the aquarium, it was about four in the afternoon and they both seemed to realise that they should be returning home. At first he considered possibly just leaving Draco there, but quickly realised that he probably didn’t know the way back to the leaky cauldron from where they were.  


Walking back with Draco was quiet but not uncomfortably. At first Harry had felt the need to say things and fill in the silence, but after a little while of failing to pick a subject he decided that they were fine without speaking. When they were back at the Leaky Cauldron Harry found words spilling from his mouth too quickly to catch them.  


“Do you want me to walk you home?” Draco smiled at this. He seemed to consider it before finally shaking his head. Harry nodded, it was probably for the best since he wasn’t exactly sure how far his house was.  


There was a sudden awkwardness again. They had kind of just been on a sort of date-ish, so to just leave felt off, somehow. Finally, Harry stuck out his hand for Draco to shake. Draco looked at it in surprise and what Harry thought might be disappointment. He wasn’t sure though, it was possible that he was misreading. Draco shook his hand firmly and smiled at him, but there was something tight and pinched about it. Harry returned a similarly unnatural smile that felt too big for his face. They were still shaking hands; although ‘shaking’ didn’t seem like the right word since they were kind of just letting their hands sit in each other’s grip. Eventually their forced smiles fell away. _Wow. Smooth._  


“We should do this again,” Draco said.  
“Yeah,” Harry nodded, “Absolutely.” He finally released Draco’s hand and started stepping away, watching Draco as he turned to enter the Leaky Cauldron.  


Harry went back to the Dursley’s with a goofy grin plastered on his face. Before he entered the house he forced it off his face. He came in looking relatively miserable to the elation in his chest. He spent the rest of the afternoon and evening randomly having to fight down his smile. Dudley only noticed once, but Harry remained silent about its origin and Dudley dropped it in favour of asking for food. When he was laying on his bed, safely away from any prying eyes, he felt a smile grow back on his features. He didn’t bother to fight this one away and sat grinning up at the ceiling for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Voldemort's soul piece makes comments on Harry Potter's everyday choices and you'll have to pry this headcanon from my cold dead hands. (If he can't recognise that Snape's handwriting in Half Blood Prince, he can't recognise Voldemort's voice lmao)


	2. Pen Pals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their definitely not a date, Harry and Draco spend a week being pen pals.

Harry woke up the day after his definitely not a date with Draco and found a letter in an envelope. The curvy, neat handwriting read _Potter_. Harry tried to ignore the little flutter in his stomach and ignored the fact that he had picked it up with so much eagerness.

_Harry_   
_I had fun. I want to return the favour, but I have to go away for a week._  
_Draco_

Harry sat staring at the letter and smiling to himself. He wondered exactly what returning the favour entailed and a little smile spread on his face. He heard his Aunt Petunia shouting at him about something and quickly folded the letter and placed it in the envelope. It went in his desk drawer along with the other one. 

Over the next week Harry and Draco sent their owls back and forth to speak to each other. Because Draco was so far away, Harry sent a letter in the evening and received a response by morning. Everyone was stored in the drawer of his desk. One night when he couldn’t sleep, Harry sat up and read through the letters Draco had sent him, occasionally flicking to the drafts of what he had written in reply allowing him to piece together the entire conversation. 

_Draco_   
_You can take me out and we’ll call it even. Where are you going?_  
_Harry_

_Harry_   
_We’re going to the beach, it’s awhile away and it only has stones instead of sand. Also it’s constantly cloudy up here. It’s not the kind of beach you swim at. It’s the kind of beach where you stand around and look at the ocean._   
_I hope your week is looking to be better._  
_Draco_

_Draco_   
_It sounds like a boring beach. Did anyone else go with you or is it just your family?_  
_My summer isn’t going too badly. I get out of the house more than usual, but I generally just hang around at the parks. I did get to see my cousin trip down the stairs though. ~~Nobody else has been writing~~ _  
_Harry_

_Harry_   
_Crabbe and Goyle also came along. Crabbe brought a sling shot and they keep trying to hit seagulls with rocks. They aren’t very good at it._   
_Did you push him?_   
_Draco_

_Draco_   
_No I didn’t push him? He just tripped. It was still funny to see, but Aunt Petunia gave me hell for laughing._   
_Why are Crabbe and Goyle allowed to try and hit birds with slingshots?”_   
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_They aren’t allowed to. Today Goyle’s mother confiscated it. She also took him home early so now it’s just me, Crabbe and our parents. They tasted wine and cheese all night._   
_From what I hear you don’t actually like your family, so why not push them down the stairs?_   
_Draco_

_Draco_   
_I’m pretty sure if I pushed my entire family down the stairs I would end up on the streets?_   
_Did they kill a bird?_   
_Also, I didn’t realise there were that many types of cheeses?_   
_Harry_

_Harry_   
_“Tasting cheese and wine” is the sophisticated way of saying getting drunk and eating a lot of cheese. There isn’t any need to worry about the birds, their aim was never good enough for them to hit anything._   
_Do you want me to push them down the stairs for you?_   
_Draco_

  
_Draco_   
_You can’t just push people down the stairs because you disagree with them._   
_So even the adults are bored at the boring not beach?_  
_Harry_

_Harry_   
_I mean, you_ Can _push people down the stairs if you don’t agree with them, I think what you mean is you_ Shouldn’t.   
_Everyone is bored at the boring not beach. Everyone except my father who insists it’s a very pretty and entertaining place. I mean, it is kind of pretty but that doesn’t make it entertaining._   
_He keeps insisting that it’s a place that “encourages inspiration.” He even made me write poetry at one point._   
_Draco_

_Draco_   
_You write poetry? If you show me I promise I won’t laugh._  
_Harry_

_Harry_   
_Just so we’re clear, I don’t believe that “I won’t laugh” bit and I don’t write poetry often._

_Water is blue has never held true as I look beyond the black shore_  
_For colours can reach like the white upon the beach and oh so many more._  
_But its the gleams of green that haunt my dreams and all times unchosen_  
_For eyes appear of who I want near and I find myself frozen._

_Draco_

The most recent letter. Harry remembered receiving that letter. He almost hadn’t replied to it. He had sat at his desk with a blank piece of paper and stared at it while his insides squirmed and his head swam with uncertainty. He couldn’t guarantee that Draco was talking about him, but that didn’t stop his heart from pounding in his ears. He was sure this poem was going to kill him. Where Voldemort failed, Draco swooped in with a poem he wasn’t even sure was about him to give him heart failure. In the end he had simply written: 

_Draco_  
_Is that about me?_  
_Harry_

And given it to Hedwig before he could change his mind. He spent the night laying on his bed, staring at his ceiling red faced and uncomfortably warm. He hadn’t freaked out about a letter he sent to Draco like this for at least two days. He wasn’t sure when he fell asleep (or how with so much adrenaline in his system he felt like he was in a battle) but he woke up with a letter on the desk. 

_Potter_ was written in the envelope in Draco’s neat, curvy hand writing. Harry stared at it for a few seconds. He had to open. But he didn’t want to. What if it just said _“Dude what? No?”_. What if it said _YES_? Both prospects left him uncomfortable and embarrassed. If Draco said no, then he had just assumed that a poem (something Harry could only see as romantic) was about him when it wasn’t. He might as well have shouted that he loved him. If he said yes, then that would mean Draco liked him. Probably. Maybe he didn’t mean it in a romantic way? Maybe it was a friendly kind of desire. Maybe. Probably not. Harry groaned and turned away from the letter. After a few seconds he reached out behind himself and groped his desk until he had the letter. Holding the letter, Harry thought all his internal organs were about to fail. His heart was thundering in his chest. He opened it with his hands shaking so badly he thought he was going to drop it. 

_Harry_   
_It was about the ocean._

A brick wall just smashed into Harry. He thought his heart stopped. He was ready to set himself on fire. Maybe he could convince his aunt Petunia to bury him in the backyard. He took a few breaths to steady himself. _It was about the ocean_. Of course it was about the ocean. But he had written about eyes. Who’s eyes? Why wouldn’t he tell him who’s eyes he was talking about? Then again it was Malfoy. They had only been speaking to each other without trying to humiliate each other for about a week. After a few seconds he found the absurdity of the situation and started laughing. He tried to keep it as quiet as possible. When his laughing fit had faded he read the rest of the letter. 

_I’ll be travelling home today; do you still want to go out again? We can meet at the Leaky Cauldron at twelve and this time I’ll show you what wizards do for entertainment._  
_Wear something a muggle would consider “for special occasions.”_   
_Draco_

Harry felt a little better after reading that. Draco still wanted to meet up with him. He hadn’t gotten scared by Harry assuming he was writing poetry about him. A smile started to play on his features, just in time for Dudley’s thundering feet to stop outside his door. Harry tried to stuff the letter back in the envelope before Dudley opened the door, but hadn’t managed to put it away in time. Dudley may have been big and blundering but he was smart enough to spot a letter and get it from Harry. 

“Letter from your girlfriend?” He asked, holding it just out of Harry’s reach. Harry didn’t say anything. Dudley started reading out the letter in a girlish voice. He stopped when he read the line “what wizards do for entertainment” with raised eyebrows. “You going on a date with your girlfriend? Who is she, huh? I bet her handwriting is prettier than she is.” He gave Harry a few shoves for good measure. 

“What are you jealous or something?” Harry spat. He managed to snatch the letter off Dudley, but only because he was distracted by looking for the rest of the letters. He started by lifting the mattress and patting down the pillow. Harry was shouting at him to stop and get out of his room, which caught the attention of Petunia who came racing upstairs, demanding to know what Harry was doing. 

“He’s been writing letters to his girlfriend,” Dudley remarked with a wide grin. He finally moved on to the desk and pulled the letters out of the drawer. “Found ‘em.” He took them down into the lounge room where Vernon was reading his newspaper. He started at the bottom of the pile and started reading them all aloud in his girlish voice. There were horrified gasps at the mention of pushing one or more Dursley down the stairs and several cases of raised eyebrows and questioning looks. 

When Dudley finished reading the last letter Petunia turned on Harry. “So,” She said in that high voice that was a bad mask for her anger, “You think that you can just waltz out and date some ugly _magic_ girl,” Harry noticed that she said _magic_ the same way Draco said _mudblood_. “Well, you can consider yourself grounded for the next three weeks and for every new letter sent by this _Draco_ girl, you’ll spend an additional week in that room.” She pointed upstairs to Harry’s bedroom where Harry now marched angrily. He shot a dirty look at Dudley, but the smug look on his face heavily suggested that he didn’t really care what looks Harry shot him. 

After angrily slamming the door shut Harry sat at his desk and stared at the parchment he now had to write a defeated “We can’t talk anymore letter.” He pulled out his quill, dipped it in the ink and started writing. 

_Draco_

He stared at the window, trying to think of the best way to put all of this. The window… The window Vernon had fallen out of when Harry was twelve. A smile crept up on his face and he would be lying is he said it wasn’t smug. 

_I’ll see you there._   
_Harry_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not meant to be a whole chapter on it's own I swear. Oh well.


	3. Date like a Wizard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco's second date.

Harry stared at his clock. There wasn’t much to do other than that. Fifteen minutes before he had to leave and he was already dressed. He found himself pacing back and forward, tugging on his jacket sleeves, checking if the window opened any wider (it didn’t) and fixing and refixing his collar. He was wearing a button up shirt and suit jacket, but he didn’t have a tie. He was wearing his best jeans because he didn’t have a pair of slacks. He kept wondering if it would be considered good enough for Draco. _Probably not._

There was a knock at the front door. Harry jumped at the sound. The Dursley’s weren’t expecting anyone to his knowledge. Dudley opened the door and Harry heard a familiar voice drift upstairs. 

“I’m looking for Harry Potter.” It was Draco. _Shit._. Harry felt himself go bright red and climbed clumsily out of the window. He was so screwed. He was going to be grounded for the next twenty years. He hit the ground and rolled, undoubtedly getting dirt all over his suit jacket. He came around the side of the house just in time to hear Draco say, “I’m Draco Malfoy.” 

“You’re Draco?” Dudley asked. “But you’re a dude.” Draco raised an eyebrow and nodded. 

“Is Potter here?” He asked just as Harry came racing around to meet him. A smile started to grow on his features that was clearly mixed with confusion. 

Harry snatched up Draco’s hand and shouted, “Go, go, go!” Draco was obviously a little bewildered but managed to keep up as the two started running away. The thundering noise of Dudley following them seemed to speed them both up a little. By the time they had reached the end of the street Dudley had fallen behind, but they were still running full speed. They didn’t stop until the street was well and truly out of sight and they both had stitches in their sides. 

They were both red faced and panting heavily. Harry found his eyes traveling over Draco’s body, rather enjoying the sight. He was pretty sure he couldn’t get any redder, so he could brush off the blush as a side effect of running. As soon as he caught himself he decided to focus on where they were instead. They were in an alleyway, the crowds of the city just a few meters away. He looked back to Draco and the two started laughing. It was breathless and light. 

“What just happened?” Draco asked when he had enough air to speak. 

“I feel like I should be asking you that,” Harry replied breathlessly. “What were you doing there?” 

“I was going to pick you up; I wanted to surprise you.” 

“Consider me surprised.” He waited to catch a little more breath before continuing, “I got grounded, so I was going to sneak out to meet you. They’re going to kill me when I get back.” 

“Don’t go back,” Draco suggested. The suggestion sat between them with a short of unspoken request. As if he had said ‘stay with me’ instead. Harry swallowed thickly, absolutely sure that Draco hadn’t meant that at all. It was just the dark lighting that made his eyes look so warm. “By the way,” Draco said, cutting off Harry’s train of thought, “Why was your cousin so confused that I was a guy?” 

Harry started laughing again, when he calmed down he answered, “They found the letters, that’s how I got grounded. They assumed you were a girl because of your handwriting.” Draco looked momentarily offended and then a smile spread over his features again. “My turn,” Harry said, “How do you know where I live?” 

Draco raised his eyebrows at that question, “There are spells for everything, Harry.” He spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Harry stared at him for a moment, half glad that he hadn’t said “I’ve been stalking you for months,” before breaking out into a laughing fit again. 

They stood in the alleyway for a while, Draco quietly whining about his stitch and rubbing his side. It was then that Harry realised he hadn’t dropped Draco’s hand. He also didn’t know if he wanted to either. It felt steady and warm. He looked at their hands for a second and then up to Draco. There was a sudden silence between them. It was a little awkward, there was a sort of tension between them that Harry wasn’t sure what to do with. He felt like he was supposed to do something. Should he drop Draco’s hand? Is that the problem? Maybe, but if that was the problem he’d rather keep the weird tension than loose that little bit of affection. As if in answer to his question, Draco gave his hand a small squeeze. 

Harry was aware of the fact that they were standing kind of close together. In fact, they were standing rather close. Very close even. Harry could feel a surge of warmth move through him as he realised that he wanted to kiss Draco. He was suddenly aware that his window of opportunity was already closed as Draco inched away with a blush on his face. Disappointment settled in Harry’s stomach. Draco also dropped Harry’s hand which added extra weight to the disappointment. 

“You’ve got dirt on your jacket,” Draco informed him. He started brushing dirt off Harry’s back gently. 

“Right,” Harry said, “I jumped out the window.” 

“You jumped out the window just to come see me?” Draco asked with a small smirk. Harry felt his heart flutter a little and he nodded. When he was done brushing Harry down Draco seemed like he was offering a second opportunity for Harry to kiss him. He was standing close again and his eyes were undoubtedly flicking up from Harry’s lips. Harry was more than ready to leap at the opportunity this time too, but the opportunity didn’t last quite long enough. Draco took his hand and started leading him away, even as Harry started to lean in slightly. _Next time,_ he decided, _next time for sure._

The two walked hand in hand all the way to the Leaky Cauldron. Here Draco seemed to tense up a little and, to Harry’s dismay, then drop Harry’s hand. They continued walking silently all the way to Florean Fortescue's ice-cream parlour. Harry suddenly felt a little ridiculous for forgetting that this ice-cream parlour was in Diagon Alley. 

Draco opened the door for Harry and he walked in and nearly froze with shock. Hermione and Ron were both here. They seemed shocked to see him too. The three of them greeted each other with enormous hugs and he gave Hermione a small kiss on the cheek. It was a few seconds before he realised he was there with Draco. Draco was standing back slightly, a little awkward under Ron’s death glare. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Harry asked. Ron and Hermione looked at each other and then over to Draco and back to Harry. There was a moment between the four of them as Harry slowly ticked over the idea that Draco had invited Hermione and Ron out on their date. That was just weird. 

“I’ll get the ice-cream, what would you like?” Draco asked. Ron and Hermione shared another look and then shot Draco another suspicious glare. Harry decided to lead the charge and told Draco what to get him. Ron looked to Harry for a moment, a question and answer passing between them; _Are you sure? Kind of._ He started digging around in his pockets and pulled out some money. “No,” Draco said, putting his hands up, “This is my treat.” 

“Not bloody likely, Malfoy,” Ron spat back, thrusting the money to him and telling him what to get. 

Hermione looked Draco over a few more times, then up to Harry and Ron before saying, “Your treat?” Draco nodded to this. Hermione ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. Draco didn’t even flinch, instead nodding and going to stand in line to order. Hermione and Ron practically dragged Harry to the nearest table. Hermione and Harry sat opposite each other and next to the window, meaning Draco would have to sit directly across from a very pissed off Ron. 

“What the hell, Harry?” Hermione asked in a voice that was part outraged scream, but mostly hushed to make sure no one else heard. 

“Yeah, what the fuck, Harry?” Ron asked, not quite so bothered by the level of his voice. 

“I don’t know,” Harry replied with mild desperation, “I don’t know what’s going on.” 

“You don’t know what’s going on, let me tell you what’s going on, cactus fucker!” Ron seemed very distressed, but a sharp look from Hermione made him lower his voice. “Malfoy sent me and Hermione apology messages out of nowhere, then asks us to come down to meet the two of you.” 

Harry looked Ron over after this description of events and then glanced to Hermione who looked a little restless and said, “When it’s put like that it doesn’t make a lot of sense.” 

“It makes a shit load of sense when you consider that Harry Malfoy-Is-Up-To-Something Potter isn’t concerned for even a second,” Ron replied. “We came here thinking you’d thrown out your invite or something and that’s why you hadn’t sent us any owls asking what the fuck is going on, and then you walk in with Draco practically on your arm!” Harry felt himself flush a little at that. 

Hermione suddenly grabbed Harry’s face and started looking him over. She commanded that he open his mouth and he gave her a confused look before complying. There was a frightening look in her eyes. When she was done practically trying to pull his ears off she started questioning him. “Did you eat anything that Malfoy or someone he knows gave you?”, “Do you have an unexplainable desire to buy him things?”, “What made you agree to come out with him?” 

Harry finally stopped her and explained that when he and Ron were on detention, he had asked Draco if they could meet up over the summer. Ron looked like he had eaten something off. 

“When did Malfoy become _Draco?”_ What a good question. Harry wasn’t completely sure. He hadn’t been paying attention. He shrugged at the question and Ron and Hermione shared a concerned look. Hermione started digging around in her bag and then handed him a small vile. Harry looked down at the vile of dark liquid with a raised eyebrow. 

Ron and Harry were both looking at her with confusion. “It’s an antidote.” She finally said. Ron nodded and sat back. 

“An antidote for what?” Harry asked. 

“Love potion, mate,” Ron stated matter of factually. Harry stared at them in shock. 

“Just take it,” Hermione commanded. “If he or someone else didn’t slip you something than it’s not going to do anything. If they did, then we’ll know.” 

“You just carry this around with you?” Harry asked, after drinking it. 

“A girl has to take precautions. This stuff happens a lot you know.” She stated it as if it was something all girls always had on their person. Harry and Ron looked between each other. Was it something all girls kept on their person? Harry wasn’t sure. 

Harry didn’t feel any different after drinking the antidote. It did leave a slightly minty taste in the back of his throat, but other than that he felt exactly the same. A thought crossed his mind about what difference it would make if his breath tasted like mint the next time he tried to kiss Draco and he was suddenly sure that there had been no love potion involved. 

Hermione was about to ask him something when Draco came back. He gave everyone their ice-cream and placed Ron’s money on the table in front of him before sitting down with them. There was a moment of silence while Ron glared at the money on the table and Hermione started between Harry and Draco, as if she was expecting one of them to suddenly do something violent. Draco was so tense Harry felt like if he pushed him he’d fall straight over without even trying to steady himself. He also wasn’t sitting up close enough to Harry to brush against him, which left Harry feeling weirdly disappointed. Ron broke the silence. 

“I told you to keep the money.” His voice was ice cold but his glare had enough heat in it that Harry thought Draco might set on fire. 

“I told you it’s my treat,” Draco replied. They were par for par in terms of how cold their words sounded. 

“I’m not gonna let you think I’m in your debt, Malfoy,” Ron growled, pushing the money back to Draco. 

“Consider it an aspect of an apology,” Draco replied, pushing the money back. They made eye contact and Harry watched as something soften in Draco’s face, as if begging for forgiveness. Ron’s top lip twitched with a desire to snarl, but he pocketed the money. Draco visibly relaxed after that. 

They all sat in silence for a moment and ate their ice-cream. Ron stopped glaring at Draco who shot Harry a small smile. Harry returned the grin, understanding that it was one of those little wins. As Ron and Hermione became more acclimated to Draco’s presence the air slowly became less and less tense. As this steadily occurred, Harry let himself sit more comfortably. That back fired when he accidently kicked Ron under the table. 

Ron turned straight to Draco, “Did you just kick me?” Draco looked a bit like a frightened bunny. 

“That was me, sorry,” Harry said forcing Ron’s glare off Draco. Ron kicked him back. “Ow, I said sorry.” Harry return the kick. The two ended up sitting there kicking each other. Hermione took the opportunity to steal a bit of Ron’s ice-cream and then Harry’s (something only Draco noticed) before demanding that the two of them stop. They stopped fighting under the table and settled themselves back down. Grinning at each other while they did. They returned to silence, though it was a little less uncomfortable. 

Hermione broke the silence with a question for Harry, “How come you didn’t ever send an owl to meet up with me over the summer?” 

“What do you mean?” Harry asked. 

“Well, we’ve never hung out over the summer, but you’re hanging out with Malfoy,” She turned briefly to Draco, “I realise how that sounds, it’s not what I meant, we’ve just been friends for longer.” Draco gave her a small half smile to suggest he hadn’t take any offense. 

“I don’t know where you live,” Harry answered. 

“Do you know where I live?” Draco asked. Harry felt himself flush lightly at the question. 

“I have a general idea.” 

“You’re coming to my house one of these days,” Hermione demanded. “We’re going to watch bad movies and eat bad food and you’re going to know where I live.” 

Harry smiled and nodded, “Sounds like a plan.” Another silence fell over them. Hermione kept trying to shoot looks at Ron, but he was too busy looking at anything but Draco to notice. Finally, Hermione jabbed him in the side with her finger to get his attention. He just seemed confused by the assault. She whispered something to him, low enough that Draco and Harry couldn’t hear. Draco shot Harry a look of confusion and concern to which Harry just shrugged. When Hermione and Ron were finished discussing whatever it was they were talking about in their hushed voices she turned and went through her bag again. Once again she pulled out a vile of dark liquid, but this time she handed it to Draco, who looked completely and utterly bewildered, but took it. 

“It’s a love potion antidote,” Hermione explained. 

Draco raised his eyebrows, “You want me to drink this?” He seemed unsure and shifted uncomfortably. Hermione nodded and he drank it. He glanced at Harry for a moment before handing the vile back to Hermione. “How long until it works?” 

“Do you feel any different about being here?” She asked. Draco shook his head and she looked to Ron and shrugged. “Neither of them took a love potion.” 

“Maybe he’s using one that isn’t effected by that antidote,” Ron suggested. Draco knew that Ron was talking about him and briefly let his features show his offence. 

“There isn’t one,” Hermione responded sharply. She turned away from Ron and looked up at Harry. She held his eyes for a long moment. Harry started to feel a little uncomfortable and glanced over to Ron who looked torn between glaring and pouting. 

“This is bullshit,” Ron grumbled. He glared up at Draco who tensed again. “If I find out that you’re using Harry for something…” He let the threat trail off. Draco understood and nodded. Ron and Hermione shared a look and then promptly left. As soon as they were out the door, Draco leaned his head back and sighed heavily. 

“What just happened?” Harry asked. 

Draco let a grin form on his face briefly before he started explaining, “That, Harry, was me getting your parents’, or the closest thing that isn’t the family you hate, approval to date you.” Harry looked away from Draco who was letting out a soft laugh. They were both blushing rather badly and Harry found himself laughing as well. 

They left the ice-cream parlour and Harry followed Draco, at one point trying to take his hand. Draco responded by folding his hands behind his back. Harry looked at him with surprise but he was looking at something else. Harry wasn’t sure what to think about this. They had been holding hands up until they got to the Leaky Cauldron and essentially all day on their last date, but now Draco wouldn’t even look at him. It wasn’t like he had decided this morning that he didn’t like Harry anymore, he had come to his house to pick him up. Maybe he had done something while they were with Hermione and Ron that made him angry? He couldn’t think of anything. He leaned forward a little to see Draco’s face. He was smiling, so he didn’t seem angry. He decided that he was imagining things, it was a little warmer than usual, maybe Harry’s hand was too warm or sweaty and so Draco didn’t want to hold it. That made sense. It was a little disheartening, but it made sense. 

They stopped in a few shops every now and again if one of them saw something interesting and occasionally chatted about whatever subjects came up. As they did Draco’s hands eventually unfolded from behind his back. After a while of Draco’s hands being up for grabs, Harry made another attempt to hold his hand only for Draco to put his hands behind his back again. Harry was almost sure that something was wrong now. Despite this, every time they spoke Draco acted the same as he had before he started refusing to hold Harry’s hand. There was also one other difference, last time they went out together, Draco had walked extremely closely to Harry. Even if they weren’t holding hands Draco barely left Harry’s side. Now, every time Harry moved closer to him, he shifted further away. 

When the amount of people seemed to thin out a bit, Draco once again had his hands by his side. Harry inched just slightly closer and he saw a small smile on Draco’s face. Once again he went to take his hand and he folded them behind his back. Harry couldn’t help letting out a small frustrated noise, catching Draco’s attention. 

“Are you alright?” Draco asked. Harry felt like shouting _‘You won’t let me hold your hand’,_ and promptly realised how ridiculous that was. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” He replied. 

Draco looked at him a little longer before speaking, “You look upset.” 

“I’m not upset,” He said in an upset voice. 

“You are,” Draco replied. Harry looked around to see a few people around them and Draco gestured for Harry to follow him. They ducked into the nearest alleyway where Draco asked again, “Are you alright?” 

“Did I do something?” Harry asked. 

“You made that little whining noise and you’ve been pouting all day,” Draco answered. 

“That’s not what I mean.” 

“Then what do you mean?” Draco was going to make him say it. He’d have to say it out loud. He was ready for the world to swallow him up right now. 

“I’ve been trying to hold your hand all day,” He replied, not looking at Draco as he did. The sound of Draco laughing brought his eyes back up to his face. 

“Oh, that,” Draco laughed. 

“Yes, that,” Harry replied a little annoyed. 

“I thought you knew,” He said, still laughing a little. “It’s not proper to hold hands until the third date at least.” Harry thought he was going to deck Draco. 

“It’s not _proper_?” Harry repeated. He gave Draco a quick jab in the ribs, “You utter git! I thought I did something to upset you.” Draco was close to hysterics, holding his rib and laughing. “You’re a nerdy little shit,” Harry continued, poking his ribs again. This time Draco took a step back. He kept laughing as Harry advanced and kept poking him, still calling him a little shit or nerd. It wasn’t until Draco was up against the wall that Harry thought about the situation and did something a little more experimental. He tickled up along Draco’s side. He let out a fit of giggles and tried to bat his hand away. 

_Holy shit,_ Harry thought, _Draco’s ticklish._ He kept attacking Draco with soft tickles until he had little tears in his eyes. He was also hyper aware of how close he was to Draco’s squirming body, which was trapped against the wall. He also wouldn’t deny that there was something satisfying about Draco crying with laughter while he was begging for him to stop. 

When Harry stopped he left his hands planted firmly on Draco’s sides. He could feel each shuddering breath and every squirm as he got use to Harry’s hands just being there and not tickling him. Draco didn’t seem to realise they were staying there for a minute while he wiped tears from his face. When he finally settled enough to recognise their position his face went bright red and he tried to back up a little, but there wasn’t anywhere to go with the wall there. There wasn’t a lot of space between them Draco looked a little awkward and extremely unsure where to put his own hands. 

Harry flushed red and let his hands drop back to his side. Draco grinned, but he thought there was something a little disappointed in it. Harry suddenly realised that he was staring at Draco’s lips a little too much and flicked his gaze up to Draco’s eyes. Draco only looked him in the eye for a brief moment for his eyes flicked down to his lips and back up. Harry took that as permission enough and jumped forward to kiss him. 

It was stupid. In his excitement he’d moved to quickly and bumped his nose with Draco’s. They split immediately and Harry held a hand over his mouth and nose. They hadn’t his hard enough to bleed, but Harry felt the need to cover his face as much as possible while he mulled over what he just did. He had turned away from Draco and stared at the wall with pure mortification on his face. Draco was laughing behind him which was good and bad; good because Draco laughing just felt good, bad because he was laughing at him. He finally turned back and started to apologise. When Harry was sure that Draco was okay and also not bleeding he found himself able to laugh about what happened as well. It was still rather embarrassing, but that seemed okay. 

“I can’t believe you tried to kiss me,” Draco finally said when he they had both caught their breath a little. Harry froze. What did he mean by that? Was Draco about to start teasing him about this? Had the whole ‘date’ thing only occurred to Harry? These all suddenly seemed like possibilities. That Draco hadn’t seen this as a date, just a game and was now surprised that Harry had tried to kiss him. Even more mortified Harry let out a shaky laugh. “Honestly,” Draco continued, “I just said that we aren’t meant to hold hands until the third date and you’re already trying to kiss me?” So Draco did want to kiss him, just not yet? Harry was really truly confused. 

“Do you want me to try again?” He had thought it, but hadn’t intended to say it. He felt his face grow bright red and Draco blushed as well. 

“Do you think you can do it without knocking all my teeth out?” He asked with a smile. Harry nodded and stepped closer. Draco didn’t say anything, but his eyes lingered on Harry’s lips. Harry placed a hand on Draco’s bicep and leaned in, much slower this time. Their lips brushed and Harry’s breath hitched in his throat before he actually kissed Draco. His heart fluttered so fast he thought it would stop. 

There wasn’t a lot of movement. They were both just kind of pressing their lips together for a moment before they pulled apart. His lips were absurdly soft and warm. Neither of them had pulled far apart, just under and inch and Harry closed the distance again. This time he moved his mouth a little and Draco started doing the same. He also let the hand on Draco’s bicep move down to his writs while Draco put a hand in his hair. When they pulled away again Draco was smiling just a little. 

“So much for being proper, respectable wizards,” Draco said quietly. This made Harry laugh. 

“We should be getting home,” Harry replied. He sounded a little breathless. 

“How long are you grounded for?” Draco asked. 

“Well, considering I was told that if I get another letter from you they’d give me another week and you showed up, then we ran away to go on a date, I think it’s safe to say the rest of my life.” Draco let out a short laugh and closed the distance between them again. The kiss was brief, but Harry felt warm tingles move through his whole body. 

“Come on,” Draco said and took Harry’s hand, “I’ll walk you home.” Harry smiled and walked along beside him. 

They mostly walked in silence, occasionally stealing kisses when they thought no one was looking. When they finally approached the street Harry lived on he froze a little. Draco noticed and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Before they were close enough for anyone peeking out the windows to notice, Harry came to a full stop and Draco joined him. 

“I had fun,” Harry said before pressing a kiss to Draco’s cheek. 

“Me too,” Draco replied, “We should do this again some time.” 

“As soon as I’m not grounded anymore,” He promised. 

“You won’t jump out the window for me again?” Harry grinned at this and pulled Draco in for one last kiss.


	4. Just Like a Disney Princess

A kiss Harry would never receive. Fate was, in his eyes at least, cruel. Giving Draco one last kiss before the two parted ways was apparently too much to ask. They were a few houses away from the Dursley’s and apparently a newspaper wielding asshole who hated teenagers and fun lived there. The newspaper was rolled up tightly and had a rubber band around it so that it didn’t unravel while flying through the air to smack Harry on the top of the head. There was shouting within the house along the lines of, _“You kids get out of my yard!”_ Draco seemed to find this all hilarious and held his laugh behind his hand as he took a step away from Harry who mostly seemed annoyed.

“Write to me,” Draco said as he started walking away. He was walking backwards as if to savour the last moments of seeing each other for the day. 

“I’ll try,” Harry replied. Draco nodded and turned around to keep walking. Harry watched him leave for a few seconds, then picked up the newspaper and threw it back through the window it had flown from. He walked back to the Dursley’s house while the thought _I kissed Draco Malfoy_ started running through his head. 

Harry stared at the door for a few seconds, already regretting coming back. He considered running to see if he could catch up with Draco but figured he should get this over with. After taking a few deep breaths to cool his face, he opened the door as quietly as possible and tried to creep in without anyone noticing. It didn’t work, because of course not, but it had been worth a try. 

Harry was dragged into the lounge room by his ear, gripped tightly between the pinching fingers of his aunt Petunia. She and Vernon took turns in yelling at him, but Harry sort of stopped listening once he had picked up the main issues: 

_-How dare he jump out the window? It will be barred again._  
_-How dare he bring a_ magic _user to their house?_  
_-What kind of foul, devilish thing had he done to make such a seemingly well-mannered young man think he was worth talking to?_ (Harry had felt a strange rush of joy at this point. In a weird way, he supposed that it was their way of saying they liked him. Or they would if he weren’t a wizard.)  
_-He was still only grounded for three weeks, but he now (somehow) had double the chores._

Other than that, they were just yelling sentences that seemed to be vaguely connected but didn’t actually add to the conversation. They seemed to be confused about whether or not Draco was his boyfriend and it occurred to Harry that he wasn’t exactly sure either. Their first date was never meant to be a date and they hadn’t even talked about if it really was a date. It was still possible that Draco didn’t see it as a date, it was still possible that their second date had been their first. How many times did you have to date someone before you were official? Or did you just have to talk about it? Harry didn’t really know. He supposed he should ask Draco, but by the sounds of it Hedwig might not be allowed out of her cage for a while and he wasn’t going to be able to go out and meet up with him; jumping out the window might be a little hard if its barred up. 

That night Harry stared out the window, knowing that it would soon be barred again. He didn’t think it was an empty threat. He had taken off the suit jacket, but otherwise was still wearing the clothes from the day. He sat at his desk and considered writing to Draco, telling him everything that happened. He even wrote a draft, but his eyes kept pricking with hot angry tears. It made it a little hard to write when everything was blurry. He also didn’t want to write to Draco about him being grounded. He wanted to ask if he and Draco were boyfriends. He wanted to ask if Draco had considered their first date as a date. He wanted to know if it was his eyes Draco was talking about in that poem. And he wanted Draco to say yes to all of those questions. 

On the other hand, he wasn’t so sure. After years of basically trying to kill each other on site, was one or two dates enough to be considered boyfriends? Not to mention Harry was still a little confused about whether he was gay or not. _Bisexual._ That voice that wasn’t his again. He wasn’t completely sure if that was right though. What if Draco was the only guy he liked? What if it wasn’t even something that would last? For all he knew this was a temporary situation and he’d see Draco again and feel nothing. That thought, however, didn’t sit quite right. It didn’t seem true at all. It sounded like the kind of thing Ron would say when he knew he was failing a class, _“I’ll just give it a day and it’ll sink in. Me not getting it is only a temporary thing.”_ Harry didn’t think his feelings for Draco, regardless of how recently they had blossomed, would be temporary if he tried hard enough. Finally, he wrote a simple note: 

_Draco_  
_I got grounded and they’re going to put bars on my window._  
_Harry_

Harry didn’t want to write to Draco, he wanted to see him. He considered it. He could jump out the window again, but how would he get back in? Maybe he wouldn’t. That sounded great. It didn’t sound practical, but it still sounded great. He took Hedwig out of her cage and opened the window, letting her out to sit on table. Then he tied his blanket to the leg of his desk and put the rest of it out the window. It didn’t go very far. He took the sheet off his bed and tied that to the blanket, and hung it out the window. He felt like a Disney princess or something. He jumped out the window rolling to a stop and then softly whistling to encourage Hedwig to come down to him. She seemed to be considering it and fluffed her feathers a few times before flying down and landing on his arm. Harry gave her the letter and she took off, Harry followed underneath her. 

Harry was rather lucky that Hedwig was white. She was a lot easier to spot flying through the air against the black sky than any of the darker breeds. He occasionally had to run to keep up with her, and also ran into the problem of having things like buildings in the way, but somehow, as if fate decided it had been heartless in not letting Harry get that last kiss from Draco, he kept up. The Malfoy estate was, to put it lightly, a perfect example of Lucius Malfoy’s dramatic aesthetic. Harry wasn’t too concerned with the appearance of the place, instead creeping around in the garden and checking each of the windows for Draco. It was late enough that everyone seemed to be getting ready for bed. He walked past one window where he saw Lucius inside and darted out of sight as quietly as possible. He kept going around the house until he finally spotted Draco. 

He was on the second story there was a window facing out to the north, which Harry was currently looking through, and something sticking out of the house facing the east. Harry crept around to the eastern to take a better look. And, wait, was that a balcony? Yes. French doors draped in sheer curtains lead onto a balcony railed by wrought iron like Draco was goddam Juliet. Harry looked in and nearly chocked on air. Draco had his back to the window and was slipping his shirt off as Harry glanced in. One of his hands had just finished undoing the buttons on his shirt and slid it off his shoulders, the other hand was holding the letter he had sent with Hedwig. He shook off his initial shock and picked his jaw off the ground. Harry realised that he needed to catch Draco’s attention before he took his pants off, partially to save them both the embarrassment and partially because he was pretty sure if Draco found him peaking in his windows while he was taking his pants off his answer to “Are we boyfriends” would be a solid _no._

There were tiny little pebbles all over the ground and Harry quickly picked one up and chucked it at the glass of the doors. It made a ‘plonk’ noise and fell on the balcony. Harry wasn’t sure that Draco would open the doors and see him though, so he threw another. This was a mistake. Draco did open the doors, just in time for the pebble to bounce off his bare chest. He let out a surprised yelp and Harry winced, stepping forward. Draco spotted him and a mix between surprise, disapproval and joy all seemed to battle for control over his features. Disapproval won. 

“Potter,” He hissed, keeping his voice low and leaning over the balcony railing, “What are you doing here?” 

“Will you let me up there, princess?” Harry asked in a similarly low voice. Draco rolled his eyes at the name calling. He looked back into his room and then turned back to Harry. 

“No.” 

“Wait what?” Harry was a little surprised by that answer. 

“No, Potter.” Draco repeated. Harry pouted a little and he watched something change in Draco’s face, the disapproval dissolving into sympathy and then back to disapproval. “Stay there.” Harry smiled and did as he was told. He watched Draco shut the balcony doors and then put on what looked to be a silk dressing gown. He came out through a backdoor and rushed over to meet Harry. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you don’t know where I live.” 

“There are spells for everything,” Harry replied with a small smirk. Draco looked away from him, but not before Harry saw the smile on his face. 

“Honestly though; what are you doing here?” Draco asked again. 

“I wanted to ask you something.” 

“And you couldn’t send an owl?” Draco looked a little exasperated. 

“I mean,” Harry shrugged, “I could have, but I didn’t want to.” 

Draco blushed a little at that, but his face was also firmly set in dissatisfaction. “We’ll go inside,” Draco finally relented. He took Harry’s hand and practically dragged him to the backdoor. He leads Harry through the house where Harry was too stunned by the brilliance to actually take anything in properly before finally reaching his bedroom door and almost throwing Harry inside. 

Harry looked around the room, it was about as large as the Dursley’s lounge room and he had a double bed. For some reason this brought a soft blush to Harry’s cheeks. There was a desk, an armchair, his own fireplace, bookshelf and it was all in the same black and silver aesthetic. 

Draco lifted the letter Harry had written from the desk and said, “Whatever you’re here to ask better not be in this letter.” Harry felt a half smile tug up on his face. 

“It’s not I promise.” Draco sat on the edge of his bed and looked at Harry expectantly. Harry sat down next to Draco and was pretty sure Draco literally slept on marshmallows. “I wanted to ask about us,” He said a little hesitantly. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Over the past week we’ve met up twice and sent letters in between,” Harry said, “Well the first time we met up it was meant to be us going out as just friends, or at least trying to build a friendship. Or build anything other than us hating each other. Anyway, at one point you asked me if it was a date and I said no, but then I took you to the aquarium because that’s what muggles do on dates.” 

“Yes, I was there,” Draco replied, still looking confused. 

“Well, was it a date or not?” Harry asked. 

Draco rose his eyebrows, “I don’t know, was it?” 

“I don’t know. I wasn’t sure. I wanted to know if you thought it really was a date, because if you did then I could.” 

Draco shifted a little, “I thought it was. You don’t have the same question about the second date do you?” Harry went red and looked down to the floor. “Do I need to start explicitly saying that something is or isn’t a date?” He was clearly joking and Harry let himself laugh at it a little. He flopped backwards onto the bed with a small huff. “Anything else?” Draco asked. 

“Yeah,” Harry said, still blushing, “Are we boyfriends or are we just kind of…” He trailed off not really knowing what else to say. Draco was also blushing at this. 

“I mean, I thought so,” He replied. “Although, maybe not.” Harry was a little surprised by that and rose his eyebrows, sitting up to look at Draco, but he was facing the wall. “I mean, there are certain things you’re supposed to do when you date someone.” 

Harry thought he knew what Draco was talking about and felt extremely warm all of a sudden. “I, uh, I mean, you don’t have to do those things, but if you want.” Draco looked back at him now, clearly confused. He took one look at Harry and swatted his chest, his own blush coming up fast. 

“Not that stuff.” Harry actually felt a little disappointed. “I’m talking about you asking my parents, not,” He didn’t finish what he was saying, electing instead to smack Harry again. 

Harry laughed a little. There was a certain level of relief after the conversation had ended. A few rather important things had been cleared up. Draco looked down at him with a soft smile. 

“Are you done asking questions now, Harry?” Harry smiled back at him and nodded. Draco leaned down and pressed a small kiss to Harry’s lips, parting and saying, “You should probably go home then.” 

“Let me stay?” Harry requested, “Just for a little while.” He kissed Draco again before he stood up. 

“You can stay, just make sure you’re gone before breakfast.” He walked through one of the doors in his room. Harry started counting them; four including the French doors. One door was where they came in through, then the French doors, so what were the other two? He picked in the one Draco was standing in and saw a walk in closet. When he had what looked like pyjamas he went through the other door. Harry didn’t get much of a look, but he thought he saw a sink. A few moments later and he heard water running. Was Draco taking a shower? Did he have an _en suite?_ Harry laid back on the bed and listened to the sound of running water in mild amazement. 

He then sat up and took the opportunity to look through Draco’s room a little. The bookshelf was stacked with books Harry had never heard of, some of them with spines so worn it was hard to read the name of the book and others looked as if they had never been opened. He had a few pictures, mostly of him, Crabbe and Goyle. In one Harry watched the three of them as they gently pushed each other and looked smug in their uniforms which put a smile on Harry’s face. On the fire place mantel, he found a small pile of letter, wrapped with a small red ribbon that didn’t fit the extremely Slytherin vibe of the room. He checked the envelope and instantly recognised his own handwriting. He felt another blush rising on his cheeks and put the letters back. He also spotted a frame that Draco seemed to have knocked over at some point, lifting it he found a picture of himself. It had been cut from a newspaper and he recognised it as one of the many pictures taken of him during the tri-wizard tournament. He wondered how long he had this here when they hadn’t even gone on a date until a week after the tournament. 

Draco come out of the bathroom then. His pyjamas were, in Harry’s opinion, truly adorable. They were plain black, expect for the single little white sheep on the bottom of his shirt. Draco spotted him looking at the picture of himself and blushed a little. 

“I don’t know what you intend on doing while you’re here,” Draco said while he got into his bed, facing away from Harry, “But I’m going to sleep, so whatever it is do it quietly.” Harry felt a grin grow on his face and crawled onto the bed with him, putting an arm around him for good measure. Draco turned to him with a small smile and then settled back down. “Just don’t fall asleep, you have to go home tonight, remember.” Harry pressed his face up to Draco’s neck and let out a soft ‘uh-huh.’ At this point the lights started fading before turning off completely. 

Harry stayed there until Draco fell asleep. He could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest under his arm and even hear a soft almost non-existent snore. After ten minutes or so he started to feel his own eyelids droop and nearly shut completely. Then he remembered he was meant to leave before he fell asleep. With a soft sigh he made himself get off the bed, something Draco felt. He was worried he’d woken him, but after shifting a little he seemed to settle again and remain asleep. 

Harry snuck out of Draco’s house the way he snuck in, then travelled back the way he had come to the Dursley’s house. He climbed up the make shift rope (which was so much harder than it seemed in the movies), did a half-assed job at remaking his bed and fell asleep.


	5. Parental Permission Required

Harry woke to the sound of pounding coming from inside his room. He groaned angrily and opened his eyes to see Vernon in his room, pounding nails into the windowsill. It took him a moment to figure out that the window was being nailed it shut. That made sense. The bars hadn’t stopped Harry getting out last time, since Ron, Fred and George had just ripped them off with a flying car. He groaned again and got out of bed, heading down the stairs to get himself breakfast.

Breakfast was uncomfortable at best. While it was normal for the Dursley’s to just ignore Harry, it was much worse if they sat and stared at him silently. Aunt Petunia wasn’t even fussing over her precious Dudley like she usually did. Instead they all just stared at him with the same confused and suspicious glare. Harry tried his best to ignore them, but it only took a total of eight seconds for his blood to start boiling. 

“It’s not enough that you grounded me?” Harry asked, “Why are you staring at me like that?” They all looked down at their food, electing not to comment on the matter. 

The day carried out exactly as Harry expected it to. He did chores all day and collapsed on his bed falling asleep instantly. The next morning, however, held a small surprise. Harry woke up earlier than everyone else today, mostly because Petunia had decided that he would make breakfast or not eat, and came downstairs to find a letter sitting in front of the fireplace with _Potter_ written in Draco’s curvy handwriting facing up. 

_Harry_  
_I want to visit you. I want to ask your actual family if I can date you. Let’s really make it official._  
_Draco_  
_P.S Don’t worry about your family reading the letters from now on, I’ve taken care of it._

Harry felt himself go bright red at Draco’s suggestion. He wanted to be official. In saying that, Harry didn’t think getting permission off the Dursley’s was the best way to go about it. In fact, he doubted Draco would get permission from the Dursley’s, even if they would have liked him had he not been a wizard. 

He was also curious what Draco meant by he had ‘taken care of’ the Dursley’s reading their letters. As if to answer his question, Dudley came thundering down the stairs demanding breakfast and spotted Harry, letter in hand. He snatched the letter, teasing something about Harry’s _boyfriend_ writing to him. As soon as the letter was out of Harry’s hand it tore itself up. Harry felt a smile growing on his face as he watched Dudley develop a bewildered and stupid expression. 

The rest of the day carried on exactly like the first, except that Harry would occasionally think about the letter Draco sent and had to fight down a dopey grin. When evening arrived, Harry wrote a letter back: 

_Draco_  
_I want to be official too, but I don’t know if asking the Dursley’s is the best way to go about it. They’ll say no, no matter how good of an impression you make._  
_Harry_

He let Hedwig out the backdoor while all the Dursley’s slept. A reply came within an hour or so. 

_Harry_  
_If I can’t ask your family then you’ll have to ask mine._  
_Draco_

Usually Harry wouldn’t reply that night, after all by that time Draco was probably well and truly asleep. Regardless, he felt a small spike of urgency and replied immediately. 

_Draco_  
_Did you forget that your parents work for the man who killed my parents and is now trying to kill _me_? I don’t see them exactly giving us their blessing. _  
_Harry_

Harry went to bed after that, already knowing that Draco wouldn’t reply until the next day. 

The days practically crawled by, the only interesting thing being the letters Harry and Draco shared over the week. 

_Harry_  
_We can’t just date without our families’ permission._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_Why not? It’s been okay so far._  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_That’s not the_ point _, Potter._  
_Its considered disrespectful to your family to do this sort of thing without informing them. I know you don’t have a problem with disrespecting your family, but that’s different. They’re different. They’re muggles._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_Bad argument, Malfoy. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, Draco, but your parents are death eaters. Like my family may not be great, but they’re not murders. Plus, Hermione’s parents are muggles and their better than both our families combined._  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_Regardless, it feels wrong to hide it from my parents. I want to be with you, but I hate hiding it._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_There’s a reason people like us hide things like this._  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_I’m aware. That doesn’t make it feel any better._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_I know, but at least we got Hermione and Ron’s permission._  
_How likely are we to get your parents’ permission? Would it be easier to just get permission from one of them?_  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_We’re probably more likely to get my mother’s permission._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_As soon as I’m not grounded, I’ll invite her out to talk. Hopefully I’ll make a good impression and get her permission._  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_I’m not completely sure I trust you to go out alone with my mother ‘to talk,’ Potter. From what I know, the last time you invited someone out ‘to talk’ you ended up dating them._  
_Draco_

_Draco_  
_If I promise not to accidentally start dating your mother, can you agree that her permission will be enough for us?_  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_Yes, I think it will be enough._  
_Draco_

They spent the next week talking about the best way for Harry to impress Narcissa Malfoy. It was a little shocking for Harry to realise how many little things made up proper etiquette in the wizarding world. One example that Harry found particularly strange (he honestly hadn’t believed Draco when he said it at first) was that men were expected to allow young women to take their arm while descending stairs in case she should trip over her skirt or have a slip of the heal and it was considered a compliment if men offered their arms, but a dire insult if they didn’t. Harry tried to remember it all, rereading every note that he had saved from the Dursley’s, although a few did get torn to shreds with advice that would probably never be remembered. 

Finally, the day arrived that Harry was no longer grounded. The nails didn’t come out of the windowsill, however his chores decreased significantly. He sat staring at a piece of blank parchment, internally trying to figure out what to say to Narcissa. It was like the first letter to Draco all over again, but worse. Worse because if he messed this up he would never receive Narcissa’s approval and Draco would never want to become official if she said no, but also because he still felt so unsure about all the rules Draco had tried to lay out. It was possible that there were still rules that Draco filed under assumed knowledge that Harry didn’t actually have. Not to mention that his handwriting was abysmal at best and she might take one look at it and immediately refuse his invitation. In the end, the letter read as: 

_Narcissa Malfoy_  
_I am writing to request your audience, there is a matter I would like to discuss with you concerning your son. If you would meet me at the Leaky Cauldron at midday, there is a small muggle restaurant not far from there. I realise that it may be unbecoming of a wizard of your status to eat at a muggle place, but I believe it would be the simplest way for us speak without you being seen by other wizards associating with me, considering your husband’s status as a death eater._  
_Harry Potter_

He sent Hedwig off with the letter and quietly fretted the whole thing over. He went through all of his clothes, picking out the best he had and finding that it was exactly the same outfit that he had worn on his second date with Draco. 

The following day at two to twelve, Harry was at the Leaky Cauldron. Narcissa was already there. Maybe it was a Malfoy thing to always been early. Regardless, they spotted each other through the window and she swiftly departed the store. She swept out of sight of anyone inside the building before she greeted Harry. She appeared very tight lipped and exceptionally suspicious. 

They walked to the restaurant in silence, only coming across stairs once. Harry, luckily, remembered this piece of etiquette and offered his arm. While she didn’t take it, he did think he saw a small glimmer of a smile on her lips. That was good, if he had indeed seen it. 

They entered the restaurant and Harry pulled out a chair for Narcissa, like the gentleman he was pretending to be. Narcissa eyed the menu with a distasteful look. She would occasionally shoot this look up to Harry, with mild suspicion laced in. When the waiter came to their table Narcissa spoke. 

“Would I be correct in assuming this is your treat?” She asked. Her voice was cool and there was something apprehensive under the surface. 

“Yes,” Harry replied, feeling a little hot under the collar all of a sudden. Narcissa promptly ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. Harry remembered that Hermione had done the same and decided to do as Draco did and didn’t even flinch before ordering. It seemed that Narcissa knew exactly why she was here. 

“So then, Potter,” Narcissa spoke once the waiter was gone, “What would you like to discuss with me concerning my son?” Harry swallowed a little thickly. His throat felt tight, as if she were chocking him from the other end of the table. 

“Well, before school ended, Draco and I decided to discuss a truce of sorts. Since then we have been speaking through letters and I would like to request your permission to take our new found friendship into the realm of a relationship.” He felt like he was speaking around a rock in his throat and his face was on fire. Narcissa had an odd look on her face. It seemed to be in part consideration, part entertained but mostly as if he had grown a third head. 

“You want my permission to date my son?” She was sitting back slightly. There was something smug about her posture. “Then surely you are aware that you are meant to request the permission of _both_ parents.” Harry nodded. “Then why did my husband not receive a similar invite to my own?” 

“Draco suggested you were more likely to be open minded to the concept of us dating than your husband.” 

Their food arrived in that moment and the two fell into a momentary silence. They both ate their food, occasionally glancing at each other. Only when they were done did Narcissa speak. 

“This muggle food is better than I expected.” That was good, maybe Harry had made a good impression. She sighed through her nose. “No.” 

“No?” Harry asked. 

“To your request,” She clarified. “You are a troublesome boy, and Lucius would never allow to even think that Draco might date another boy, let alone _you._ ” She shrugged delicately, “So no, Potter.” She rose and left, leaving Harry with the bill and a heavy heart. 


	6. You Choose Not To

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I, you see, am a pessimist.

_Draco_   
_I’m sorry, I tried, but she said no._   
_Harry_

Harry had been staring at this note for twenty minutes. He had to send it. He had to let Draco know, but he didn’t want to. It felt cold, distant even, to send him a letter like this. He had come home from his meal with Narcissa sullen and dragging his feet in defeat. He didn’t write the letter until it was late enough to send it, but he would rather see Draco in person. He would rather comfort him, but would Draco let him? He said he wanted Narcissa’s permission. He seemed to need it. Harry kept looking at the note. If he sent it, would it seem like he didn’t really try? Would Draco know how awful he felt if he just sent a letter? There was a possibility that he wouldn’t. Harry sighed and threw the note out, putting a jacket on and heading out. 

It didn’t take long for him to be outside Draco’s window, throwing pebbles to get his attention. Once again Draco met him outside, but there wasn’t a hint of subtle excitement. There wasn’t even disapproval. He looked completely deflated. Sorrowful tears gently sparkled in his eyes, but didn’t quite spill over. His shoulders hung like a heavy weight was placed on each. His feet dragged a little. His mournful eyes were red and swollen. Harry felt his heart break, he genuinely felt it shatter in his chest even while it kept beating. He opened his mouth to speak, but Draco interrupted him. 

“I know, she already told me.” Harry reach out to hug him and Draco took a step back. Harry stared in silent shock. Draco was staring at the ground, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. Harry felt his breath hitch and he may have uttered a small _please_ if his voice would work. If he could make a sound he would have begged, but he was entirely silent and still. “I had fun,” Draco said after a moment, with a small, sad smile on his lips. 

“We don’t have to-” Harry started and was suddenly aware of how tight his throat was. He couldn’t speak. It wasn’t tight like it was when he was talking to Narcissa, that had been like she was chocking him. This was like his throat was collapsing in on itself. It was like his lungs had been ripped apart. His stomach tightened like he was about to wretch. His heart seemed to be skipping beats, painfully. 

“We can’t keep doing this,” Draco said. “I can’t-” He looked up at the sky and batted his eyes as if trying to hold back his tears and Harry realised, that was exactly what he was trying to do. Harry felt that if Draco started crying that Harry wouldn’t be able to stop himself from joining. 

“So now what?” Harry asked after a moment. 

“What do you mean?” Draco asked. 

“What do we do now?” 

“We?” Draco’s voice sounded wispy, more air than sound. “You go home, Potter.” Harry felt like he was being crushed. Draco didn’t want him here, but his feet felt like they were frozen to the ground. The crisp night air felt colder than it possibly could be. The sky was darker than ever. The stars were so dim they were practically invisible and the entire scene was blurred by tears. Harry opened his mouth a few times to speak, but couldn’t say anything. He just looked to Draco desperately. Silently begging, _pleading,_ for him to say literally anything else. _Now you try again. Now we run away. Now we keep it secret. Now we commit double suicide like this is some Romeo and Juliet nonsense._ Draco shook his head lightly and headed back for the door, leaving Harry frozen in a moment that seemed to last forever. 

Just before Draco could enter the house again, Harry leapt forward. He was suddenly unconcerned if Draco’s parents heard, shouting his name. Draco seemed to freeze for a moment, but kept going. Just as Draco opened the door to go back inside, Lucius came charging out, his head whipping around until he spotted Harry. Without any warning he started throwing spells Harry’s way, forcing him to turn tail and run. He didn’t stop running until he was back at the Dursley’s. 

Harry laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling all night. The scene replayed over in his head a hundred times and he found himself crying after every one of them. He couldn’t sleep and when morning rolled around he couldn’t eat. Dudley tormented him about it only once, “What’s wrong, Potter? Did your boyfriend break up with you?” There must have been something dark in his eyes when he shot a glare at Dudley because he stepped back and didn’t mention it again. In fact, Dudley spent the rest of the day like a dog with its tail between its legs whenever Harry was around him. 

When Harry was done with his chores, he ended up spending the rest of his time in his room. He never thought he would willingly spend time there after being grounded for three weeks, but he didn’t have the energy to go mope at the park. Surely Draco didn’t actually want to break up with him. Maybe he just needed some time to think about it a little. Harry thought this had to be true. Draco wanted him as much as he wanted Draco, he was sure. Harry sat at his desk and wrote a letter to Draco. 

_Draco_  
_We can make this work. I can keep asking until she says yes. Please, we can do this._  
_Harry_

Harry sent it and fell asleep by the fireplace, waiting for Draco’s reply that didn’t come. 

Harry did his chores while he tried to figure out why Draco hadn’t replied. Maybe he really didn’t want Harry back. The idea caused a spark of anger to jolt through his system. The anger was directed at Narcissa. It was her fault. She was the one keeping them apart, he felt so sure of that. If she had said yes, he and Draco would be boyfriends. They would be happy. She was the only thing standing in their way and Harry thought of a million nasty letters to send to her. Instead when sitting at his desk with the chance to write them all out, he wrote something else. 

_Narcissa Malfoy_   
_I beg of you, please reconsider your decision._   
_Harry_

Her response was, of course, written with pure contempt dripping from every letter. 

_Harry Potter._ _In reconsidering my decision I have come to the same decision. No, you may not date my son. I will not put my son in a situation where he may have to choose between you or his father. You will not tear apart my family like that, regardless of your self-centred desires. You have clearly have not considered what position you would be putting Draco in._   
_My decision stands. My choice is final. Your boorish attitude is beyond disrespectful and if there were any chance of me changing my mind it is thoroughly extinguished. Do not question me on this matter again._   
_Exasperated, Narcissa Malfoy._

Harry cried for three hours after reading that letter. While he kept it mostly silent there were undeniable whines of pain. He sounded like a wounded animal. He tried not to cry, he tried to tell himself this was something they’d move past. In the end he passed out from exhaustion, ending the whimpering. 

The next night Harry wrote a letter to Draco. He wanted, no needed, to hear from him. Even if they weren’t dating. Even if they started hating each other again. It was so odd to Harry; they had only been going out for a month. One month and he was falling to pieces. 

_Draco_  
_I know your mother said we can’t date, but we can still be friends, right?_   
_Harry_

The reply was not what Harry had hoped for. 

_Harry_  
_I don’t think I can._   
_Please stop writing._   
_Draco._

Harry was not going to stop writing. He sat down with his quill and parchment, ready to write, even just to spite Draco. The words, however wouldn’t come. Everything he thought to say, everything that crossed his mind even for a moment failed to make it to the paper. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say that would make the situation better. What could he say to Draco when Draco had asked him not to say anything at all? In the end he knew the answer; nothing. 

Maybe there was a way he could tell him what he was feeling though. Harry had never been a bid movie fan, nor really into music, but wasn’t there a thing people did in the movies? They played music outside their love interest’s window. He could do that. Dudley had a stereo because of course he did. Maybe he could play a love song for him. Maybe he could even successfully win back Draco before Lucius tried to kill him… again. 

Harry asked Dudley for the stereo, but after being rejected figured that it was okay to steal from him. It wasn’t like Dudley was a good person anyway. Plus, he’d return it before Dudley’s slow brain caught up with the fact that it was gone. He also took one of the albums he had heard and actually enjoyed when Dudley was blasting his music. 

Once again, Harry found himself at Draco’s window. He could see Draco through the French doors, sitting on his bed. He was looking at something; it took Harry a moment to realise he was flicking through the letters. Or, rather, he was holding up each envelope and looking at it, then putting it to the back of the pile, then lifting the next and doing the same. He wasn’t even reading them, as if he already knew exactly what each one said. This steeled the idea that he didn’t want to break up. Now much more confident, Harry pressed play. 

Draco seemed confused when he heard the noise, then realised where it was coming from. He opened the balcony doors and stepped out to see Harry there. They both seemed to freeze for a moment and Harry suddenly felt unsure. There was a dark shadow over Draco’s face that wasn’t related to him standing with his back to the light. He seemed angry, enraged even. He went back into his room and emerged holding his wand. He shot a reductor curse at the stereo, shattering it into pieces and then returned to his room, shutting the doors behind him with an unnecessary force. Harry was so screwed. It was one thing to expect Dudley not to notice if the stereo was back where it was meant to be in the morning, it was another thing to expect Dudley not to notice if his stereo never returned. Harry’s level of screwed increased suddenly when he saw Draco looking at him through the window. 

“Dad! Potter’s in the yard again!” Harry bolted. He didn’t have any intention to die just to get Draco’s attention. 

Back to the Dursley house, but more importantly, back to the drawing board. Draco was officially willing to tell his father if he showed up in the yard, which basically meant he was willing to let Harry die. Maybe that wasn’t right. That did seem a little dramatic. Then again, what was more dramatic than a Malfoy. It seemed Harry would have to go back to ignoring Draco and spending his summer just hanging around in parks. Maybe he would, just as soon as he had the energy to. For now, he just felt tired. 

Sleep was a blessing and a curse. While he slept fairly well, it only made the oncoming storm of Dudley realising his stereo was missing to come all the faster. Harry wasn’t really listening to Dudley while he shouted at him and didn’t really care when he pushed him either. 

Harry spent the rest of the day in a state of pure melancholy. His chores were done at a snail’s pace and he barely ate all day. It was like a dementor was hovering outside the windows, looking in on him. His heart was practically in his feet, his head felt fuzzy and the only thought really on his mind was _Will I have to go back to hating him?_ The only time this thought changed was when that other voice, one that made him writhe a little in disgust, spoke the words _Did you ever_ really _hate him though?_ Maybe he didn’t. Maybe it wasn’t that other voice’s goddamn business. 

That night Harry dreamed of Draco. Nothing spectacular, just a replay of the night he had nearly fallen asleep in Draco’s bed. Regardless Harry woke up feeling oddly okay. He had gone a whole day not speaking to Draco and hadn’t died. It kind of made everything a little easier. He supposed that he had time to consider that he and Draco had only really been dating for a month and it hadn’t even been official. They had two dates in total. It wasn’t life or death. His mindset changed the second he saw a letter sitting by the fireplace with Draco’s curvy handwriting facing him; _Potter_. Harry practically dived for the letter. 

_Harry_  
_I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rash. I was upset and I couldn’t think straight. I wasn’t sure what to do. I would still like to be friends with you. My parents still can’t see you here and I still don’t want us to date without their permission, but I still want to see you again._   
_I know it’s not what we want, but it’s better than nothing, right?_  
_Come over and we can talk if you like._ _Draco_

Yes, it absolutely was better. It was fantastic even. Anything was utterly splendid compared to not talking at all. 

That night Harry was once again outside Draco’s window. He started to think he spent too much time there. The French doors were already open, meaning that he couldn’t throw pebbles at the doors again. Luckily, Draco was already out on the balcony and a grin appeared on his face when he spotted Harry. He was also already dressed in his cute black pyjamas. Harry once again was lead into Draco’s room through the backdoor. They both sat down on the bed and there was a sudden tension. Harry didn’t know what to say. After so much time wanting to say anything to Draco he had no words. 

“Your bed is really soft,” Harry finally said. 

“Yeah, I guess,” Draco replied. They sat for a moment. 

“Wanna make out?” Harry suggested as a joke. Mostly a joke… partly a joke. Draco turned bright red and smacked his arm, causing Harry to laugh. Draco kept smacking him, though they were soft enough not to hurt. Harry soon retaliated by tickling Draco’s sides. This caused Draco to start giggling, trying to keep his voice down so his parents wouldn’t hear. 

Draco fell back laughing and Harry found himself over the top of him. Harry seemed to realise their position a second before Draco did. He leaned down, wanting so badly to kiss him, only for Draco’s hands to land squarely on his chest. Harry stopped, cleared his throat and sat up again. 

“Sorry,” He said quietly. Draco nodded but seemed too flushed to really speak. “So, anyway.” Harry didn’t know what to say again. Neither, apparently, did Draco. The two were just sitting there. It became so tense that Harry was afraid to move. 

“Maybe this won’t work,” Draco whispered. It felt more directed at the air around them then to Harry. 

“We don’t know that,” Harry replied in the same hushed tones, but what Draco said felt true. They had been enemies for so long. They barely spoke. It wasn’t possible to be friends, which meant that really their relationship probably would have never worked either. They shared a look of understanding. “Maybe I should go,” He whispered. 

“No, wait,” Draco reached out, taking his arm. “Stay here, until I fall asleep.” Harry nodded and Draco crawled into bed. Harry laid down beside him with his face buried in his neck. The lights in the room slowly dimmed and turned off. In the darkness Draco asked, “Do you prefer the sky at night or day?” 

“The day,” Harry replied without thinking. “I like the sun.” 

“But what about the stars?” Draco replied. 

“They’re pretty,” Harry muttered with a shrug, “But they’re distant and cold.” 

“I suppose,” Draco whispered. He shifted slightly, but made sure to stay close to Harry. 

“Do you ever wonder if there are aliens?” Harry asked after a moment. 

“I’ve never really believed in aliens.” Draco was laughing a little at this. Harry could feel the small shudder of his chest and shoulders more than he could hear it. 

“I never use to believe in magic,” Harry replied with a grin, “And as it turns out I’m a wizard.” 

Draco turned around to face Harry in the dark after that. “Did you just suggest that I’m an alien?” 

Harry couldn’t help from laughing, “That isn’t what I meant. I just meant that sometimes you find out that things you don’t believe in are actually real.” 

“Tell you what, if I meet an alien I’ll apologise for not believing in them.” The two laughed and Harry felt a spark in the air. He could only see an outline of Draco’s face in the dark, but he could tell he was smiling. They fell back into a comfortable silence. Draco snuggled forward until his face was in Harry’s chest. 

“Maybe this could work,” He whispered, “Except…” He trailed off but, after a little prompting, continued, “Except that we would have to keep it secret from everyone. If anyone at school found out, even Granger or Weasley, then my parents might find out. Especially if Crabbe and Goyle find out.” 

“Are we still talking about just being friends?” Harry asked. Draco didn’t reply, but he didn’t need to. “Maybe we could just chat during the summers between school,” Harry suggested. 

“We can’t date on and off like that every time school starts or stops.” 

“I didn’t say date,” Harry whispered. Draco turned his face up to Harry’s and he thought he saw tears glimmering in the dark. “So what, we just be friends on and off?” 

“Summertime friendship, if you will.” Harry replied with a small grin. 

“Harry,” Draco’s voice was so quiet he almost didn’t hear it, even in the silence, “Before you go tonight, I want you to kiss me.” Harry didn’t even hesitate and kissed him gently on the lips. Draco kissed him back, but when they parted he said, “That wasn’t quite what I meant.” 

“What did you mean?” Harry was a little confused now. 

“After I fall asleep, wake me and kiss me before you go.” He pressed his face into Harry’s neck and Harry could feel how warm his face was. “I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I thought it would be romantic. Kind of a last gesture before we really break it off.” 

“That’s really cheesy,” Harry whispered back and pressed a kiss to Draco’s forehead. 

They talked for a little while longer about anything and everything. When Draco fell asleep, Harry did as he asked and gently woke him. They shared a long kiss before Harry left. They spent the rest of the summer writing to each other and, while Harry kept all the letters in his desk drawer, they never surpassed the realm of friendship again. The last letters they sent to each other were: 

_Draco_   
_Its almost time to go back to school. It’ll be nice to see you in person. A shame that we can’t actually be friends though. Maybe one day?_  
_Harry_

_Harry_  
_You wish, Potter. I’m rolling out the ‘Potter stinks’ badges again, just see if I won’t._  
_Draco_


End file.
